eBay previously told authorities in the US it registered $1.3billion of UK revenue.

Yet it paid just £1.6million in UK tax on a £7.6million profit, while Netflix paid only £300,000 on £1million profit.

The Financial Times says this raises new concerns on how companies are able to minimise their tax bills.

Netflix says its tax rate is around 27% (Picture: Getty)

Defending its payment, an eBay spokesperson told metro.co.uk: ‘In all countries and at all times, eBay is fully compliant with national, EU and international tax rules including those of the OECD, including the remittance of VAT to the appropriate authorities.’

The company describes its UK revenue as coming from marketing and advertising services to Swiss parent company eBay International AG.

But the figures reported to the US appear to include commission the company received on British sales – which are not included in the revenue reported to the UK.

Income from British subscribers to Netflix is channelled through its Dutch parent company Netflix International BV.

A spokesperson said: ‘Netflix is contributing to the UK economy in many different ways, including corporate and other taxes, remitting millions in VAT, employing staff directly and funding dozens of UK productions for hundreds of millions of pounds.

‘In 2016, our UK entity reported €22.2 m revenue and €21.2m operating expenses on its marketing activities, with a profit before tax of €1 m and an income tax charge of €269k – making an effective tax rate of approx. 27%.

‘We are investing heavily in British content and are also a major purchaser and exporter of British content.’